Weather News

Possible late season cyclone for Queensland

Drew Casper-Richardson,
Saturday April 27, 2013 - 10:02 EST

The north tropical Queensland coast may be impacted by a late season tropical cyclone next week.

A weak low has formed within a trough over the Solomon Sea. Over the next few days this low is expected to intensify and move slowly in a west-southwest direction, towards the eastern Cape York Peninsula coast. The Bureau of Meteorology are rating Monday as a high likelihood (that is, greater than 50% chance) of this system developing into a tropical cyclone. Should a cyclone form it will be named Zane.

Sea surface temperatures in the region are around 29 degrees which provides ample energy to fuel tropical cyclone formation and development.

Current computer models indicate that the system will continue to track slowly west-southwest over the coming days. Parts of the Peninsula and North Tropical Coasts could start seeing an increase in rain and wind as early as Monday, with Wednesday being the wettest. At this stage the system is most likely to cross the coast on Wednesday morning.

These dynamic systems can change quickly so keep an eye on weatherzone.com.au for updates.

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Parts of NSW have been buffeted by high winds, with two people injured by flying building cladding, glass left shattered in a CBD high-rise, wires on the rail line damaged and Sydney Airport forced to cancel flights.